


The Beginning

by Judaiandjohan, scarlettriotkiri



Series: Sticky Situations [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 06:32:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judaiandjohan/pseuds/Judaiandjohan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarlettriotkiri/pseuds/scarlettriotkiri
Summary: While exploring Hateno, Link stumbles upon an odd-looking lizard and decides to take it to get it checked out.





	The Beginning

Link was playing tag with one of the village children when he spotted it, a strange statue tucked behind a hill away from the village. It was a stark contrast to all the goddess statues Link had seen before; it was small in size, made of black stone, and depicted some kind of horned creature.

The statue gave off an aura of creepiness and danger, but the thing Link was most interested in was the small hoard of lizards around the figure. He had never seen such an extensive collection of them in one place. There were Hightails, Hearty, and even a few Fireproof lizards, but the one he was most curious about was one perched on the statue’s head.

At first it looked like a Hightail Lizard, but it had a purple streak along its side and was missing the spikes around its head; instead, it had two little nubs on the top of its head. Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate, curious about what kind of lizard it was, and how he could use it in an elixir. He zoomed in on the small reptile, making sure it was in the center of the frame before snapping a picture.

Link was caught off guard when the Compendium came up, but it was blank. Where the name and description should have been was nothing but question marks. He had never had that happen before, and he tended to take pictures of bizarre things. Now even more curious about the strange lizard, Link crept forward. Some of the lizards around the statue spotted him and scurried off, but the one Link was most interested in stayed oblivious to his presence. It seemed to be sunning itself, and so it had its eyes closed, and its head pointed towards the sky.

The lizard opened its eyes the moment Link was within grabbing distance. It stared him down for a second before trying to scurry away. Link leapt forward with a yell and managed to wrap his hands around it before it could getaway. He struggled to hold on as it kicked and thrashed in his grip, trying desperately to get away, but he was able to wrestle it into his bag.

‘ _Ah, so there are some who still pay me homage_.’ Link jumped back with a yelp, not expecting to hear anyone nearby. He looked around, but couldn’t see anybody in the area. He looked down to the statue, which was now glowing with an unnatural light.

“You can talk?!” Link asked, slowly backing away from the statue.

‘ _You don’t say; you can hear my voice? Now that is a surprise. What are you praying for? Long-life? Wealth, like so many of your kind? Whichever it was, you came to the right place. A dealer in life and power, that was me, once. Alas, my life-for-money bargains didn’t sit well with the Goddess Hylia. She trapped me in this stone statue long, long ago. The villagers here call me the Horned Statue and don’t even bother to wipe away the bird droppings_.’

‘ _One would think years upon years of such treatment would have made me mend my ways. One would think wrongly. I have only been biding my time for the moment someone who can hear me appears. Someone such as you. But I’ve said enough. Now then, shall we strike a bargain? Then stay that way, no further action is required from you_.’

Before Link could say or do anything, he felt a searing pain in his chest, and a bright red light emerged from his body, before flowing into the statue. Link shook as his body seemed weaker, and he wondered just what the statue had done to him. When the statue fell silent, Link backed up, before turning and running back into the village.

He didn’t stop until he reached his home, and he raced up the stairs, collapsing on the bed he’d recently bought from Bolson. He pulled out his Sheikah Slate, contemplating his next move. As it hummed to life, it displayed the picture of the lizard he’d caught. Link sat up, wondering if perhaps Purah knew what kind of lizard it was.

After giving himself a minute to catch his breath, Link left his house and headed towards the Hateno lab. To his surprise, he found himself having to take a few breaks to catch his breath. He’d been up this path plenty of times, and never had a problem with it before. The statue had done something to him, and he’d have to go back and try to get it to undo whatever it had done. The lizard came first though; he was curious about what it could be and if he could use it to make an elixir.

Nearly three hours later, he was inside of the lab, showing the picture to Purah. She seemed just as surprised as him at the Sheikah Slate’s data.

“This is fascinating, in all the time I’ve worked with this technology, it’s never done anything like this. Are you sure it wasn’t trying to focus on the Horned Statue? No, that can’t be it, it’s not programmed to recognize statues or buildings. Can you bring out the lizard? Maybe if I get a better look at it, I can figure out why it’s not registering on the slate.”

“You might want to get a glass case or something to hold it. The little bastard’s slippery; he almost got away from me.”

“Robbie, bring me the glass bowl from the bookshelf, it should be big enough to hold it, and I can get a better look at it.”

As soon as Link pulled the lizard out of his bag, a horrible screeching sound filled the room. Link struggled to hold onto the thrashing and writhing lizard, his ears already ringing from the loud shrieks coming from the tiny lizard. He pinned the lizard to the table and pulled back right as Purah slammed the bowl over it.

Thankfully for them, the glass muffled the screeching, making it bearable. The lizard scuttled around inside the bowl, still screeching, but now Link and Purah were able to get a better look at it. Link noticed that while he first thought the lizard was red with purple stripes, it was more of an orange, and the purple covered its entire underside.

The lizard started throwing itself against the glass, and Purah, who had been only an inch or so from the glass, fell back, nearly falling off her chair. Link couldn’t help but laugh, and Purah shot him a withering glare.

“Well, I can say for certain that I’ve never seen a lizard quite like this. He doesn’t appear to be any of the lizards in the Compendium. I wonder if that means this species didn’t exist when the Compendium was made. Perhaps it’s a species that only came into existence post Calamity. It looks like it could be a crossbreed between a Hightail and a Hearty lizard. Other than that, I can’t tell you anything about it. If you leave it here, I can observe it and try and find out what it can do.”

“No, I’ll just take him back and let him go, he’s way too noisy to keep around here.”

“Let me at least put him in a box for you. Wouldn’t want him to get loose in your bag and break something.” Purah had Robbie get Link a small box, and Link was stuck with the task of trying to move the angry lizard from one container to another.

Link sat the box at the edge of the table and slid the bowl over it, so the box was directly underneath it. The lizard refused to move though, sitting at the top of the bowl, staring at Link, as if waiting for him to make the next move.

“He’s a sticky little bastard, isn’t he?” Link remarked as he tapped on the top of the bowl, trying to get the lizard off. Purah got a wooden spoon from nearby and knocked on the top of the bowl a few times until the lizard dropped into the box, and Link slammed the lid on before it could jump out. Link thanked Purah for her help, then took his box and headed back home.

Once he got back home, he opened the box and set it by the tree in his yard. He headed to the pot in his front yard and started to organize ingredients for dinner. After preparing all of his ingredients, Link began to cook, humming a song to himself. His humming stopped when a crashing sound came from his house. He took a second to adjust the fire before going to check out the noise.

At first, Link couldn’t see what could have caused the noise, but as he made his way upstairs, he gave a disappointed sigh. The vase sitting next to his bed had fallen off the nightstand and shattered into pieces. Water had spilled all over the floor, but the Silent Princess that he put in was okay. He picked up the flower and brushed it off before heading downstairs. He had to finish making dinner before he could clean up the spill; he didn’t want his food to burn.

Once the food had finished cooking, he plated it and put out the fire, then headed inside to eat. He put the plate down on his bed before mopping up the water and sweeping up the shards of ceramic. He had received the vase from the inn owner’s wife as a housewarming gift, and he was sad that it had only lasted two weeks. It had been a nice-looking vase, and it had made the house feel warmer. Maybe he’d go into town and buy another one.

After finishing his food, Link considered heading out again, but when he pulled out his Sheikah Slate, he saw it was almost 10. Since he was already home, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to spend the night in his bed. It would probably be better than sleeping next to a campfire out in the open.

He set the alarm on his Sheikah Slate for five in the morning and settled down to sleep. As he drifted off, he could hear a faint scuttling sound, but passed it off as a bug or lizard outside his house, and fell asleep.

Link was roused by the unpleasant feeling of something crawling on his face. He lazily swatted at it, hoping whatever it was would fly off. The sensation went away for a few seconds, before returning tenfold. Link’s eyes shot open, and he bolted up, to find three lizards crawling on top of his bed, and several bugs flying around.

  
He jumped out of bed and looked over the railing to find his bag laying on the floor. The top was open, and all of his things were spilling out, including all the critters he’d caught. Careful to not crush any of the bugs or lizards, Link raced downstairs to grab his bag. He noticed the purple lizard he’d set free was perched on top of the bag and was looking at him innocently. It must have found its way inside of Link’s home.

Link shooed the lizard off his bag and picked up the bag, closing it so nothing else could get out. His priority was the insects, without a door it wouldn’t take long for them to get out, he was sure plenty had already escaped, but he could still do some damage control. He sighed as he started to work, so much for a good night’s sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, this another idea from the Discord that slowly turned itself into a full-blown series, and I'm trying my best to put it into writing. I plan to make a collection of drabbles, but for now, enjoy the introduction of our glorious sticky bastard.
> 
> Prompt from Cryptid-in-Training: Wild has a pet lizard who only responds to swear words  
> With help from Cryptid on the Linked Universe Discord


End file.
